Time To 'Get Real, Find Common Sense' About Teen Sex, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 08 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PST

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A "good New Year's resolution" for the U.S. would be to "settle down and get real about teens and sex," Washington Times columnist Cheryl Wetzstein writes in an opinion piece. She continues that it is "harder than it sounds, but don't be discouraged. It's possible to disentangle competing agendas and find the common sense." Wetzstein writes that a recent study found that "virginity pledges" are "ineffective" in preventing teens from having premarital sex and that 53% of teens who made the pledges "didn't keep their promise." The results of the study "quickly aroused mainstream media's disdain for teen chastity programs," according to Wetzstein.

She continues, "Let me now steer you to another new study that also finds that young people can say one thing but do another." The study -- conducted by Eve Rose of Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health -- examined condom use among teenagers in an HIV prevention program. In the study, 186 young women ages 15 to 21 said that they used condoms every time they had sex in the previous two weeks. The participants also provided vaginal samples for sperm testing. Wetzstein writes, "With 100% condom use, there should have been zero sperm in the samples. But lab analysis showed that in a third of the samples (34%), some tiny soldiers sneaked in anyway." According to the study, the presence of sperm in the samples could have been the result of user error -- such condom breakage or late application -- and over-reporting of condom use. "I'll doubt you'll read much about the Rose study" in the media, Wetzstein says. She concludes that the condom use study, similarly to the virginity pledge study, "breaks important ground and offers invaluable insights into how modern youths are actually responding to sex education messages. 'No easy answers' remains the name of this game" (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 1/6).

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